Monthly Archives: November 2016

Philadelphia, PA – Immigrant communities across the United States woke up to face an America with a President Elect Trump at the helm of the executive branch. Donald Trump launched his campaign with a broad anti-immigrant message and platform. While his supporters do not represent anywhere close to a majority of this country, or even a majority of registered voters, his message of hate and bigotry captured a majority of the votes he needed to win the Electoral College.

In the face of this hate, immigrant communities will continue to stand strong and fight their right to live freely. Immigrants woke up today as they do every day, ready to live their lives as members of our communities. We always knew that whomever won this election, we were going to have to stay organized and fight. Our movement neither starts nor ends at the ballot box, and that doesn’t change today.

“We are a community that is united and resilient. Our young people fought for DACA, for themselves and their families to be free from the hands of the deportation machine and they will continue to fight to ensure that the freedoms we have fought for and deserve don’t get taken away by the incoming administration” said Olivia Vazquez, Juntos Youth Organizer and DACA recipient.

Our communities will not live in fear. We will continue to organize and fight against whatever anti-immigrant policies and executive actions president-elect Trump pursues. The fight is not over and we are committed to fighting back against all injustices. We will never stop fighting for our liberation.

“The result of this election is disheartening but unfortunately not surprising at all. We have known that racism and hate have always been present. We as people of color live and breathe this every day in this country. We need to take this as a call to action. Now is the time, more than ever to organize and fight back. We have seen what we can accomplish when communities raise their voices, from administrative relief for young people to dismantling the toxic relationship between ICE and local police. We are more powerful than any politician or political party” said Olivia Ponce, Juntos community leader.

As the current administration comes to an end, we demand that President Obama do everything in his power to dismantle the deportation and detention infrastructure he has created during his tenure in office. He can start by closing the Berks family detention center today and enact a moratorium on all deportations immediately. Obama should not allow Donald Trump to take the helm of the deportation machine he has built in the last few years, especially by a President Elect that led a campaign grounded in hate against immigrant communities.

“President Obama has gone down in history as the Deporter in Chief, having built and maintained an efficient deportation machine during his administration, but he still has the power to stand with our community. He can make his last stand and prove to us that he is for the people. We cannot afford another passing of the buck. Our families may be undocumented but we remain unafraid and will continue to fight until not1more deportation is a reality in this country” said Miguel Andrade, Juntos community leader.